Overlooked: Ash is not given a pokemon by Professor Oak. Devastated, he runs into the forest and finds some old friends.
All of his life, Ash felt something was off about how he was treated by the people in town. Professor Oak would make comments that sounded as if he knew Ash's father. Stuff like
'He doesn't take to battle strategy well, not like his father." and other comments. The people in town would whisper about him going into the forest to play instead of playing with Gary, the Professor's grandson.
"He thinks he's too good to play with the Oak boy." He'd hear them say. Even his mother, though she loved him would say things like
"I wish you'd try harder in school. You could be great you know, just like your father."
It all led up to Ash feeling like no matter what he did, he was always stuck in his fathers shadow. It didn't help that whenever he did something right in school, like getting a better grade than Gary, no one paid any attention to it. It frustrated him to no end.
Truly, he had no real friends in Pallet, and that was okay. The Pokémon in the forest that surrounded Pallet didn't judge him. Sure, they had run from him when he had first come to the forest, trying to find somewhere he could be alone. But slowly, they had come to know him, until he had several regulars sitting in his lap.
His favorite though, had to be the smallest rattata he'd ever seen. He'd noticed it trying desperately to play with others of its own kind only to be cruelly tackled and chased away. Ash had felt sorry for Rattata, and the two had become fast friends, playing together and even having mock battles against the many caterpie.
Tonight a storm was brewing, but Ash wanted to play and he had run straight into the forest. Loosing track of time, he never noticed as the sky got darker and darker until the wind started up. Then it began pouring heavily as if the heavens had opened up. Ash scooped up his friend and together they found shelter in an old tree. Ash stayed there curled protectively around his friend until morning but he had caught a bad cold from being out in the storm. When he dragged himself home he was taken to a hospital as his temperature spiked. Ash didn't remember anything after that. He ended up spending a month in the hospital. What he had thought was a bad cold had turned out to be Pnemonia, and his mother forbid him from going anywhere but school and home.
"But mom" He whined,
"No buts mister! Do you realize how close you were to dying in that forest? Just as reckless as your father! Well it stops here!"
Ash realized that his mother loved him and was scared, and when he thought about it, he was scared too. "I'm sorry mom. I'll do better, I promise."
So Ash decided then and there that he would be a better student, and a better son. Time passed and Ash finally came of age for his first Pokémon, unfortunately he had been up late researching the choices and had forgotten to set his alarm. When he awoke in the morning and realized how late he was, he stopped only to change into proper attire and ran as fast as he could for Proffesor Oak's lab.
"I'm sorry my boy, all of the starters are gone."
"But..."
"You really should have been on time Ash. There's nothing I can do."
Ash was devastated, no other starters meant that Ash would have to wait another full year before he could start on his journey, another year of being mocked by the town, another year knowing that Gary was out there already getting a headstart. He couldn't stand it. So when the Professor's back was turned he grabbed one of the empty Pokeballs Oak had sitting around and ran for the forest to the spot he'd always met Rattata in.
"No one thinks we can do anything." He said as he finally saw his friend, "Well we'll show them all! I'm going to be a champion! But not just any champion! I'm going to be the champion of overlooked Pokémon! We'll show them all what we can do!'
End chapter